Why Done is better than Perfect

“We can have it fast. We can have it cheap. Or we can have it perfect. But we only get to pick two”.

It’s better to actually accomplish a task, even if it isn’t flawless, than to start it and never finish. Generally the pursuit of perfection holds us back and makes us less productive.

“Done is better than perfect” is not about coming up with ideas; it’s about believing in them. And having an attitude that compels you to run with the idea before it’s too late.

That doesn’t mean making a botched job – we should always strive for the highest quality we can – but we have to finish, we have to launch our initial product, our Minimum Viable Product (MVP) as soon as possible to the market and step by step deploy additional features.

If we never put our idea out there, never make the decision, then we will never get anywhere. It’s better to make a decision we aren’t 1000% sure of – it’s better to risk – than make no decision at all. Making things happen requires action, moving forward and taking big risks. Making the right things happen will involve “failure” and those “failures” are what teach us and keep us on the right path. Fall down 7 times, get up eight.

Summary: The main priority has to be completing something with the time and resources that we have available. If we think is not good enough, with the benefit of time and the feedback we receive, we can either go back and improve it or decide that it’s not for us and move onto to something else. Finishing things help us to decide how to continue.